Fact Sheets:
The Undermining of Peace

(Updated May 2010)

The premise of the peace process is that disputes should be resolved through negotiations. This is exactly the path Israel has pursued. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly called for direct talks with the Palestinians, he has frozen settlement construction and he has taken a number of confidence-building steps including removing checkpoints.

The Palestinians, however, have never accepted this most basic principle of coexistence and remain unwilling to engage in direct talks. The answer to complaints that Israel is not withdrawing far enough or fast enough should be more negotiations, more confidence-building measures and more demonstrations of a desire to live together without using violence. By contrast, the Palestinian Authority is engaging in a variety of activities that demonstrate an unwillingness to live in peace and that undermine confidence. Here are just a few examples: